Till the very end...

We are going to celebrate summer until the very end around these parts.

School starts next week for the bigger kids, so summer festivities will be winding down. For now we are enjoying the last of our playdates and outings with friends. The weather doesn't know that fall should be approaching soon, so us Dunbar's are living it up until the very end. Bedtimes will be earlier starting next week, wake times will also (for me at least), and we'll be preparing for routines, schedules, work and school. But for now, this is our last true week of summer.

Wishing you well,

Oh, so good...

If you've ever read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, you just know what a phenomenal author she is. Even men will love Redeeming Love, funny story here. So when my MAP group decided to have a book club this summer with a series of books written by Rivers I immediately signed up.

Mark of the Lion is a winner all the way around.

This series will blow your socks off!!

Ha, I just wanted to say that.

And again, I feel like I am years behind because Mark of the Lion series was written like 5 or 10 years ago. But seriously, these are fabulous books with a plot that happened just about 2,000 years ago. Remember the movie Gladiator? I am a HUGE fan of the movie Gladiator. These books will surpass the movie, especially if you weren't into all of the war scenes and blood from the Gladiator movie. Set in Rome, they will give you a glimpse of how truly corrupt the Romans were and how us Americans are not that much different. The main character, Hadassah, is lovely. Hadassah, a slave girl, will capture your heart and defy what you think a Christian woman looks like. (She's Proverbs 31 and then some...she'll remind of another person we find in the Bible.) Marcus, is the hottie every girl always wanted. (Yes, I even said that in Book Club. All the mature Christian women were squirming in their seats, but it's the truth.) He's smart, confident, rich, humorous, good-looking, a total stud. Haddasah and Marcus' lives will consume you as you peruse these books and when they are over you will wonder where they are because so much of them is revealed. Oh, and God, has a way of revealing His master plan in all things in this book. Hadassah's life will challenge you to be the Christian you always wanted to be.

Read them, your walk with God will be altered.

Black and Green Snack Salad

A staple salad when I was growing up was macroni salad. We had it at every bbq, every weekend gathering, every party. Nowdays there are times I don't want a heavy pasta salad, sometimes I just want the crunch and ting.

So I took the first three ingredients that always made the base for the macroni salad in my mom's house and turned that into a snack all on its own.

Celerly, pickles, and black olives

are dee-lish, and make for a great snack or salad.

Try it.

Or do you think I'm nuts?

WW- August 2008

One year ago.

Notice the BIG difference

Check out the new alarm clock on Mr. Dunbar's nightstand.

Here's a picture of mine, just for comparison.

And Mr. Dunbar's one more time. Notice anything? (about the numbers.)

So far its been named Big Ben.

Last night he said, "Hey kids look, it's the Helen Keller Special." (Please don't think ill of him. Mr. Dunbar really is funny.)

Two nights ago he said it probably competes with the Great Wall of China, as one of the Seven Wonders seen from outer space. The austronauts could see what time it was.

The first night, he said it was glowing in our room, and then he turned it away from his vision, only to point it straight at his mirrored closet door. I thought he was going to get up and get his sunglasses.

We were laughing so hard.

You know those gut laughs where your stomach hurts.

If there is one thing I am learning about this marriage thing, it's that you have to learn to laugh. Even if all of your nice efforts to replace his taped together alarm clock receive a snide remark each and every time your head its the pillow.

UPDATED: Tonights comment "Alex Trebek reads "Things we can see from outerspace."

Movin on up, to the east side...

Yesterday morning at church, our Pastor announced that after eleven years our church body is now formally in the process of purchasing a building. We have rented other churches, and for the past 7 and 1/2 years we have been meeting in the gym of the local Christian college. In Pastor Matt's words, "They were the only building in the city that would rent to us back then. The only building."
I still can not believe its true. Sandals Church is going to have a place to call home.

Now granted, I know that the building is not the church. If you have ever been to Sandals you know that, we have been the largest church in our city without a building for the past 5 or 6 years. But it is so amazing to think that my boys will have a real classroom to go to, new families will be able to meet in a lobby and not in a tent city that always is subject to the weather gods, our engaged couples won't have to open up the phone book and start calling outside churches to rent for their wedding like Mr. Dunbar and I had to do.

Much has to be done still, we have to be approved for 13 acres right next to the building for the parking lot. (Pastor Matt encouraged us to email our councilman. I've included some links below if you are a local resident. )
Mayer Ron Loveridge: rloveridge@riversideca.gov
Rusty Bailey Ward 3: rbailey@riversideca.gov
Don't know who your Councilman is find out here.

After the service we drove down to the site. It's a huge shell. We prayed as a family over this site and thanked God for his provision. As were were driving around the building Mr. Dunbar was explaining to Monkey that we were heading to the new Sandals Church, because this is something we've been praying for and God had now answered our prayers.

Monkey's response: "Is this heaven?"

Not quite Monkey, only a glimpse.

150 Palmyrita

Riverside, California

Weekend Happenings

We've had a fabulous weekend. Started it out on Friday night by hanging out with some of our very dearest friends. Good friends, good grub (beer, beer bread, bbq'd chicken sticks, and brownies with ice cream), good conversation, and kids who play together (oh so well), makes for a great night.

Saturday we headed to a luau in honor of the daughter of some other friends. Lauren heading to Hawaii for seminary. (I wish God would call me to Hawaii.) It was such a nice afternoon. We were able to catch up with quite a few friends we haven't had the chance to see in well over a year or more. (Something about an MBA program, left the Dunbar's somewhat M.I.A, in social circles.)

These are some of my favorite girlfriends ever!

Jamie, Danielle, me, and Erin

Married thirteen years and still in love.

The men hanging out.

I caught the boys all looking at the camera.

Bogie hauling rocks.

(big butt) Jamie and I trying to take a picture of ourselves.

It was so nice to see everyone.

We wish Lauren the best in Hawaii. (Even though I didn't get a picture of her...agh!)

What did you do this weekend?

Feel Better Dinner

Tuesday I had the worst headache EVER. Total and severe migraine. I've never had a migraine before, not ever. It hurt so bad I was vommiting. At the insistance of my mom, Mr. Dunbar took me to Urgent Care where I ended up getting two shots in my buttocks to make the pain stop. It seemed to work. The only problem was the shots left me super groggy all day Wednesday. Mr. Dunbar came home super early from work and scooted the boys out the door for most of the day. (Thank You!!) My mom called him early in the afternoon and told him she would bring dinner by.

What does a mexican mom bring for dinner, you ask?

Tacos, of course.

Along with frijoles (beans) and aqua de papino (almost like a lemonade with cucumber drink).

Thanks for dinner. I feel much better today.

Cheese

My mother-in-love always says that she has the most horrible pictures of her sons while they were growing up because they would put this fake "cheese" smile on for all pictures, when she could even get them to do that. And wouldn't you know it?

These Dunbar boys are doing the same thing!

Bogie would squint for every picture (he inherited that from his dad.) Monkey just wanted to show me teeth.

Got any tricks for getting good pictures of boys?

I made it... barely!

Amount of money in my wallet on July 31st.

July was the L - O - N - G - E - S - T month of my life.

But a month of many lessons.

Lesson 1: I spend a lot of careless money. Even on a budget. Even though living on one income has put us in the position to have to choose this or that, we Dunbar's still enjoy lunch out after church, snacks at Disneyland, Fastrack, cute t-shirts because they were on sale, small trips to JoAnn or Homegoods, $5 this or $5 that. Which adds up. Quickly!

Lesson 2: I can go without spending money if there is an end in sight. We had $100 to last us a month for anything that wasn't a true necessity. I went week by week. The last week was the hardest. I look like a frizzy rat with roots. (Ha.) Seriously I do, which will be cured on Tuesday night when I finally get to get my hair done. But if I had done that in the month of July there pretty much wouldn't have been room to get anything else. Probably not even toilet paper and I think we would have had a problem if I would have let that happen. So no, I don't want to live like this every month. There was an end in sight and I worked towards it. This whole project has given me a sense of what I can and can not live without.

Lesson 3: Budgeting can work, you just have to set your mind to it. With an end goal. My end of the month goal was to cut our family's expendable budget. I think I did that by almost 50%. But then again, it's just like Mr. Dunbar asked, "Are you going to just spend more money in the month of August?" The answer is, I am going to try to spend less than I did in June, or May, or any month before that. Our life is so different then when I was working. My wardrobe is different, my schedule is different, my purpose is different. Even though my priorities are still the same though, I'm learning that those don't necessarily cost money.

Lesson 4: God is good. We were totally blessed with gifts, groceries, free activities, and opportunities to improve our total budget this month. I truly believe God used many people this past month to bless us. And I am so so grateful.

Although I only had cents in my wallet on July 31st, I kept several hundred dollars out of Target and the mall. We threw less food away this month. I can tell you where pretty much every single dollar in our budget went. We were totally blessed by this little project.

ADDED: I just visited my very good friend Cathy's blog. She goes on a missionary trip to Alaska every summer with her family. Her post reminded me that what I think I can not live without is not really selfless at all. She just threw a monkey wrench to me. Thanks Cathy!